>> 30 Sep 2004

TORIES TO UNDERGO HEART SURGERY?

After their eclipse into FOURTH place in the Hartlepool by-election, it's time for the Conservative Party to have a change of heart. They need to either radicalise rightwards or be marginalised leftwards - their call. The UKIP did very well in this election which will give them hope for an impressive G.E. result. The Lib-Dem's are demonstrating that their extreme leftism, in harmony with that of the UK mass media, can capture substantial quantities of Labour votes, which should give smug Jabba the Prescott food for thought. Final thought - the victorious Labour Party candidate looked about ten years old to me - am I getting old?

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism.

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." (PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, March 31, 1977, interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw.)

He has one. Seriously though, Tony Blair has revealed that he will be going into hospital tomorrow to have corrective surgery for an irregular heart problem. He has also declared he will not stand for a Fourth term as PM.

On the issue of his heart, I wish him well. Wonder will he be using the NHS in the normal manner and how long has HE been waiting for this?

On the matter of a fourth term, I hope that Labour, led by whomever, does not get back in for one as that would be devastating for the United Kingdom - but the Conservatives really need to start kicking some ass - and at the moment, a one legged man would be better than Michael Howard and his anonymous tendency!

35 Iraqi kids are reported to have been killed by terrorist bombs going of as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government ceremony to inaugurate a new sewage treatment plant. Horrendous.

So what do we do? Negotiate with the child killers? Ask them what they might like, maybe? Sit down - around the table - and have a good old chat to see what it might require to stop them killing more defenceless civilians? I don't think so. These Jihadi need hunted down and killed. There is NO room for "nuance" when children's body parts litter the streets.

"Security to go at 17 police bases" shouts a story in this evening's Belfast Telegraph. In a further act of craven appeasement to the IRA, Ubercop Hugh Orde has announced that 17 Police Stations around Northern Ireland will have anti-terrorist fortification removed. This is an obvious ly choreographed move to help nice kidnapper-intercessionist Mr. Adams. There is no length that this Kipper Government - two-faced and gutless - will not go to keep terrorists happy. This "peace process" is dishonourable and an affront to authentic democrats.

First Yasser Arafat, the godfather of modern terrorism. Now Gerry Adamsjoins the chorus. It seems that every reptile imaginable has slithered out from whatever stone they hide under to urge the terrorists in Iraq to release Mr. Bigley. The opportunism of the terrorist tendency knows no bounds.

When it comes to depravity, I recall the IRA forcing Patrick Gillespie, a Roman Cathloic man, to drive a van fully loaded with explosives into an Army check-point in Londonderry, slaughtering three soldiers and Mr. Gillespie himself. No choice there, Mr. Adams. No mercy. Just a widow and four kids wondering why Daddy noi longer existed thanks to the IRA.

>> 29 Sep 2004

PALESTINIANS TARGET ISRAELI BABIES.

A rocket attack from the Gaza Strip killed two Israeli children at a southern town on Wednesday, the first such deadly Palestinian missile strike for three months, medics said. The director of the Barzilai hospital, Emile Hai, told Reuters a baby and a young boy were declared dead on arrival from the town of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of rocket attacks. Israel Radio said the boy was four years old.

So those brave supporters of "hostage-intercessionist" Yasser Arafat think targeting innocent children is fair enough. I'm not surprised - and I hope Ariel Sharon moves against these child-killers and wipes them out.

Poor old Dan Rather over at CBS. It must have seemed like a great wheeze all those weeks ago now - stab Bush in the back with credible allegations that he sought preferential get-out of doing service treatment. Now, Dan is reduced to saying, "Most importantly, the content of the documents was backed up in our reporting and our sources who knew the thoughts and behavior of Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian at that time."

As Addison Ross explains here, "The only honorable solution to this affair is for Dan Rather and CBS to come clean and tell us all they know. But as Dan Rather and his supporters are neither honest nor honorable we can expect this sorry spectacle of media bigotry to continues until Dan Rather has been fully exposed as the lying political bigot he has always been. The truly great thing about this sordid affair is that it has heralded the end of the left's media monopoly and its contempt for the right of the American people to really know the truth."

Today's most laughable suggestion is that Tony "Trust me" Blair will be forcede into naming an exit date for UK forces to leave Iraq. This is obviously a wet-dream for the hard left but just won't happen, though let me give you MY date for said exit; the day after every Ismalofascist has been killed. Fair enough?

Just one second before you report me to Germaine Greer ( andoy, is SHE a wacko or what?). I am pleased to report that;

"An Aug. 26 report from the U.S. Census Bureau stated that the median female full-time wage for women was 75.5 cents for every dollar similarly earned by men; that's down .6 percent from 2002. Gender feminists quickly cried "discrimination is increasing!" ...BUT... "women have fewer years of work experience, work fewer hours per year, are less likely to work a full-time schedule, and leave the labor force for longer periods of time than men."....

Indeed, when you factor out variables like having children, the wage gap virtually disappears. In their book "Women's Figures" (1999), economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Christine Stolba meticulously compared data on the earnings of childless men and women aged 27 to 33. They found that the wage gap shrank to 98 cents"

All right-thinking people will be hoping that John Howard can win the looming Australian general election on 9th October. John Jay has published a very insightful letter from one of his US readers on the importance of a Howard victory and the devastating implications should Howard be rejected and replaced by the craven surrender monkey politics of Mark Latham.

If Howard can win in October, Bush wins in November, and Blair wins next May, we will be well placed to prosecute the continued war against the malignant Jihadi. If these men lose, the Jihadi will prosecute the war against us. Dhimmi or dimmer?

I've finished writing my script for tomorrow night's BBC Northern Ireland "Hearts and Minds" TV programme. I record it tomorrow and then it goes to air at 7.30pm on BBC2 and then at 11.00pm or so on BBC1. The content must remain a secret but I will say this; Groucho Marx, Jeffrey Donaldson, Richard Branson and Tony Blair are all in it! Tune in and give me your critiques - and please be aware that I use a body double for these TV stints - in real-life I am much younger looking!!!!!

In an article from The Wall Street Journal, George Melloan, deputy editor, international, wrote, "A study prepared by economist Peter Boone at the London School of Economics... concluded that little correlation exists between the level of development aid to poor countries and changes in living standards. He discovered no sign that aid flows reduced infant mortality rates, which are perhaps the most basic measure of the welfare of impoverished populations. Indeed, he concluded that the principle effect of foreign aid seems to have been to raise the consumption levels of the richest members of poor countries' populations."

I remember reading this article a few years ago on Bono's thirst to save the Third World and it still rings true. Rock Stars should stick to singing - anything else is just a waste.

Tomorrow sees the good Doctor Ian and Peter Robinson off to Dublin to engage in political talkswith the Irish PM. What a difference a day makes - or, in this case, five years. I think the significance of this journey lies in the very fact it is happening. I have no problem with the DUP talking to wee Bertie - in fact, I would love to be a fly on the wall!However, is this another case of the DUP being converted into an Agreement-sceptic Party rather than remaining an anti-Agreement Party? No wonder Jeffrey joined!

I note that Al-Zarqawi's goons have released a new video, showing Mr. Bigley chained and in a cage. Must be horrible for the family and our prayers should be with them. The inhuman Jidadists behind this are clearly manipulating world public opinion, and our UK media has to be much more discerning in how it editorialises on this.There can be no accommodation with these killers no matter how many video's they release.

Sinn Fein Chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness has told the Labour Party Conference in Brighton that there could be no return to unionist rule and he called on the DUP to abandon its anti-Agreement stance, the Derry Journal informs us. How about no return to terrorist rule?

I see that the U2 frontman has been making an appearance at the Labour Party conference, pleading for Blair and Brown to funnel UK tax-payer money to South Africa. Don't give up the day job, Bono, you still haven't found what you're looking for if you think that you are anything other than a piece of glitzy showbiz padding forBlair and his pals.

Or at least it will be if you believe Jimmy Burns in the FTtoday. It seems that the UK and Irish Governments have set their sights on securing a political agreement on Northern Ireland by Christmas. It would include arms decommissioning by the IRA and pave the way for a restoration of devolved government.

Ever get the feeling that you've heard this one before? A deadline that isn't really a dead-line, decommissioning that isn't really decommissioning, democracy that isn't really democracy?

According to Mr. Burns, the IRA "will" (note future tense) put it's illegal arms beyond use (whose use, when, how much, in what manner etc all left vague, naturally) and Sinn Fein, those puppet proxies for illegality, will condescend to join the Police Boards. Yeah - what a great breakthrought THAT would be.

I particularly liked Mr. Burns pay off line, "A signal of how far the peace process has come was underlined by the joint attendance yesterday at a fringe meeting in Brighton of senior officials of the DUP and Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator."

I would put it slightly differently. It is a signal of how debased the so-called peace process is that a self-confessed IRA commander and alleged murderer, Martin MGuinness could attend the site of an IRA atrocity not so many years ago and be welcomes with a smile. Mind you, it was only Tories that died.

GREAT to see FOX News wiping the floor with the left of centre competition.

For the first time in its history, Fox News Channel beat the combined competition in primetime during the third quarter of 2004. According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News averaged 1.8 million viewers, while CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Headline News averaged a combined total of 1.7 million. The quarter ended Sunday. CNN came in a distant second, averaging 882,000 viewers, while MSNBC drew 421,000. Headline News averaged 226,000 in primetime, and CNBC attracted a paltry 133,000.

It just goes to show that people want to see fair and balanced media coverage of the issues - not self indulgent leftist bias served up as "news". It would be great if the UK could have one balanced mass media broadcaster - instead all we get is LEFT, LEFT, and more LEFT.

Did anyone see self-confessed IRA terrorist Martin McGuinness enjoying the 5-star treatment at the Grand Hotel, Brighton yesterday? The Grand Hotel, that is, that the IRA bombed back in 1984 in an attempt to murder Margaret Thatcher. If ever the two-faced hypsocrisy of the Labour Party's approach to dealing with terrorism was on show, this was it. And yet, not a squeak out of our gutless big media on this irony!!!!! I'm surprised Sinn Fein didn't really go for it and send Patrick Magee, the terrorist who masterminded the bombing, on an eco-tourism trip to Brighton - I'm sure the appeasers at the Labour conference would have invited him in for a nice breakfast...care of the British tax-payer. Obscene.

It's not a big surprise, is it? That those who kidnap and threaten to murder innocent civilians in Iraq should then milk a kidnapping for all it is worth and the "praise" those wonderful French for their concern towards the Iraqi people. I quite agree. For years, France went out of it's way to be kindtowards Saddam, helping him fill those mass graves.

>> 28 Sep 2004

EYEBALLING SINN FEIN!

I remember castigating Lord Maginnis several years ago when he burbled on about he was going to "eyeball" Martin McGuinness and confront him for the terrorist godfather that he was. Big words mean nothing, espeically when they come from the former Fermanagh and South Tyrone MP. Thus when this "capo di tutti capi" became Minister for Education, Ken supported this like the political hypocrite he was.

Now I see that David Trimble isback at this nonsense, urging the DUP to "Look Sinn Fein in the eyes and tell us if the IRA are going away for good." Doesn't poor David ever learn?

I chuckled at this.It seems the Kid Rocker is angry that those who didn't salute men and women stationed in Iraq are touring to raise cash for President GEORGE W BUSH's rival JOHN KERRY on the VOTE FOR CHANGE tour.

He states, "You see this thing now where like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JON BON JOVI - like I love all these guys as musicians - they're gonna raise money for John Kerry. God bless 'em.But, before you go and do that, why don't these motherf**kers go over there and play for our soldiers in Iraq? I'm not vocal about my views on the war. I'm just vocal about my views on the troops."

The Belfast Telegraph reports that Student "leaders" claim the rise in course fees - due to be introduced in 2006 - could send total costs soaring towards £34,000 for a three year course. Shocking!

Readers may know that I totally disagree with the mendacious approach this vicious Government has adopted regarding course and tuition fees. When I was a student - not THAT many decades ago (gulp) - I was fortunate in that I got a small grant and did not have to pay the outrageous fees now levelled on the heads of students by this left-wing bunch of egalitarian obsessed ideologues in power.

Under current structures, the Students are being asked to fund the Government's crazy desire to force 50% of the population through tertiary education. This is putting poor old student grant in debt, destroying the concept of university education as a pursuit of academic excellence, and turning our once great universities into glorified creches for the 18+ group. Pathetic.

Bobby Eberle has a great article here on the bad US President who LIED to get us into a war with Iraq. I have to say I agree with him and urge you to read the article, in full. You'll get my drift then.

I was saddened to hear that Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Paul Murphy, is reported to have collapsed at the Labour Party conference today. As I have said on before, on those occasions I met him I found him to be a courteous and pleasant man. Trusting all works out well for Paul.

It seems likely that Bin Laden has been dead for a number of years now. I reckon that he was despatched off to paradise (hell, in his case) care of the US daisy-cutters back in Nov 01. His earthly representative, al-Zawairhi may play along with the pretence that the Sheikh is still with us but we all know better, don't we? The bigger point is surely that his legions of terror live on - and they too must be tracked down and despatched into eternity to be with their once glorious but now sub-atomically challenged leader.

Just to let readers know that Andrew is experiencing PC problems and may not be able to post for the next few days. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. In the meantime, it's just you and me.Watch out.

I read this article in "The Irish Voice" in wearied disgust. Seems that there is a section of republicans who are, in essence a bunch of Nazis. They aren't interested in sensible accommodation with the representatives of the majority within Unionism (The DUP). No -their sole interest is to steam-roller ahead with their IRA sympathetic agenda and to hell with unionists. The more articles like this they write the better - it guarantees that they'll never get their Nazi way.

The four British citizens captured in the terrorist infested mountains between Afghanistan/Pakistan by US forces and now held prisoner at Guantanamo Bay are to be put on trial shortly. Good.

I'll be delighted to see these guys get their just desserts. The "I was only there as an eco-tourist" get out of jail routine, that works so well in places like, em, Colombia, won't wash with the US. These terrorist suspects need to be processed and then punished for their activities - the sooner the better.

I was struck by this little tale of a man who was paid for doing nothing and no, I'm not talking about Northern Ireland's MLA's!!

In a Homer Simpson mood, a Pennsylvania man applied for a job, didn't get it, was paid anyway and may now go to prison for his troubles. Edward Woodland Jr., 34, tried out for a temporary cleanup position at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant.

What made me laugh was Woodland's outrage that he should have to pay back that which he was not entitled to in the first place! D'oh! Bet he's a Democrat voter.

>> 27 Sep 2004

COUNTRYSIDE COMES TO THE SEASIDE.

Thousands of demonstrators will descend on the Labour Party conference today in Brighton to register their disgust at the removal of ancient liberties to pursue Country Sports. I wish them all the best- hope they give Blair an uncomfortable time.

A few days ago, I posted a comment entitled "Bin Laden to plead for Bigley's release!" It was, at time of writing, somewhat ironic. I now read, to my disgust and amazement, that Yasser Arafat, that well known terrorist godfather and murderer haswolfishly intervenedand asked thekidnappers to release Ken Bigley. Arafat's pledge was welcomed by the hostage's brother Paul. He told the ITV News Channel it was "fantastic news" and the biggest breakthrough so far in the bid for the 62-year-old civil engineer to be freed. What next..Hitler's ghost speaks from beyond the grave to urge release of Bigley?Stalin's spectre begs - save our Ken? This is getting way too out of hand. Mr.Ken Bigley should not be held captive by Islamic psychopaths. But neither should the UK and USA be held hostage to the increasingly demented activities of Paul Bigley.

In England's metropolitan counties (of which West Yorkshire is one), pensioners are only entitled to free travel if they use transport wholly within the county catchment area. If they wish to travel to towns in Lancashire, Greater Manchester or South Yorkshire, they are charged a fee because they are travelling 'cross-boundary'.

Turning to Northern Ireland, Auntie Beeb tells us that the UK and Irish Governments are considering a system for harmonising free travel for pensioners throughout the entire island. Why should pensioners on the island of Ireland receive free travel in two completely separate countries free of charge when our local elderly have to pay exorbitant fares to travel to Oldham or Rochdale? The last time I looked, these two towns were both in the United Kingdom. And they tell us that cross-border initiatives are not politically motivated.

I am just about old enough to remember a time when houses were not festooned with every labour-saving gadget under the sun. When I was growing up in the '70's and '80's, the cost of many household items was prohibitively expensive. Does anyone, for example, remember seeing the first video recorders on sale around 1980? They were mainly in Betamax format, around £700 to buy and weighing in slightly less than an Austin Princess.

These days, houses are literally cluttered with high-tech, lightweight, gadgets of all descriptions. We have computers, DVD's, TV's by the hundred-load, Dyson vacuum cleaners, mobile phones, CD players, digital surround sound and satellite dishes (and that lot just covers the goodies owned by people on supplementary benefit!). Our kitchens are also cluttered with items which auntie Mable or cousin Cyril decided to purchase for a Christmas present at junctures when the Yuletide intoxication of alcohol was exercising its most deleterious effects on the human mind.

I thought I was the only one who owned electric equipment unopened since the day of purchase. Not so! Today's Daily Mailcarries an article dealing with the multitude of items tucked away in darkened cupboards, never to be used by their owners. They include breadmakers, sandwich toasters and fondue sets. Why anyone will all mental faculties intact would want to purchase - or own - a breadmaker is beyond me. It takes bloody hours to bake bread. Who has time to participate in such activities in these fast living times? And fondue sets!! That's stamp collectors having an hour off, isn't it.

Fondue was all the rage twenty or so years ago. I remember being invited to a fondue dinner with my parents circa 1983. It was hosted by a work colleague of my mother's who lived in Croydon. All I remember (I was only ten years old at the time) was this great cauldron filled with bubbling hot cheese, which went absolutely berserk when the host decided to thrust a skewer of bread into the molten mess. As the heat underneath this cauldron (correctly known as a 'caquelon') intensified, great globules of boiling cheese started flying across the table like mini surface-to-air missiles. By the time everyone went home, you'd have thought they had spent the last few hours on a sun lounger in the Sahara Desert.

Why do we buy implements we have absolutely no intention of ever using? Is it about keeping up with those around us in this sad, materialistic age? I think I'll make a promise to clear out the clutter in the New Year. In the meantime I'm off to make myself a toasted sandwich. Good heath!!

This most disgraceful of former US Presidents has decided to get in early as Kerry's defeat becomes more obvious by the hour and..blame FLORIDA! It appears that Carter believes that voting arrangements in Florida do not meet "basic international requirements" and could undermine the US election. Warming to his subject and elevating the hot air factor, Carter went to to say "With reforms unlikely at this late stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious process in Florida."

Well, way to go Jimmy. But pray tell, what about a bit o focus on Boston, Chicago and New York ? Isn't it clear that theVERY suspicious process in these major cities needs very careful scrutiny?

Shock Horror and did youread all about it? I refer of course to the revelations in the new Jeffrey Donaldson book "Not By Might, A Journey In Faith and Politics" that Sir Reg Empey was dynamically poised to rip the leadership of the UUP from David Trimble when...he lost his nerves and possibly wet his pants. Yes, it's the talk of the town. (Waringstown, that is) If ever you wanted to discover how inept the UUP senior ranks are, then here it is in gory detail. What a bunch of old women with no balls (I know, I know one implies the other) this lot are.

How on earth could anyone with principles remain in such a pathetic sham of a Party? Jeffrey may be lacking in physical stature but it seems to me that he towers above most of the pygmies in his former Party.

What do Maurice Hayes, James 'Insanity' Kelly and Tom Deignan all have in common? Well, for a start, they belong to that school of journalists who believe the word of government translates into automatic promises on behalf of the IRA. These three idiots all wax lyrical about the envisaged end of the Provisional movement as currently constituted, yet we ordinary mortals have not a word on the subject from the mythical 'P O'Neill'; the only word we are expected to swallow is the word of two governments unparalleled in telling 'porkies' to Ulster's pro-Union majority.

Another thread of commonality revolves around the willingness of these individuals to lay the blame for the present impasse at the foot of the DUP. Deignan criticises Paisley's party for apparently seeking 'the hegemony of Unionists over nationalists.' Translated into plain English from pathos-saturated Paddy-speak, Deignan levels vitriol at the representatives of the majority community for wanting the same conditions underpinning democratic procedure as exist elsewhere around the globe. 'Insanity' Kelly has concentrated on a similar theme (must have thought it up whilst shaking wildly and dribbling into his wincarnis), admonishing the DUP for changing the 'name of the game' (just about everyone knew the DUP had a mandate to end nationalist appeasement from last November: everyone, apparently, except Kelly). Hayes, for his part, simply wants Unionism to roll over and be trampled upon by Irish nationalism in the way it has been since 1998.

Compare and contrast the bitter, self-pitying piss artistry from these guys, and the very reasonable and articulate submission forwarded by Bob McCartney for the Belfast Telegraph. McCartney, rightly, states that the original Belfast Agreement has its foundations in IRA appeasement and, consequently, if the basis for appeasement no longer exists in a post 9/11 era, the same agreement needs to be radically changed to tally with a more democratic framework in local Ulster politics. 'Accountability' isn't some cheap phrase designed to restore Unionist majoritarianism (if Unionists want that, I'll consider standing for election there), it is about guaranteeing the fundamental principle of cabinet responsibility to the electorate as a whole. If nationalists will not accept changes to their precious agreement, they will simply bear witness to its eventual demise - with results vastly more unsuited to nationalist aspirations than those of their Unionist counterparts.

Melanie Phillips tackles the issue that's been bothering me since the kidnappers struck last week...

"...but there's something else that's just as troubling. The Iraqi butchers are only taking these hostages and murdering them in this disgusting snuff-video style because the media -- of which I am a part -- are behaving exactly as required and putting these pictures on our screens and front pages. If the media did not do this, it would stop. I think therefore that we in the media have to examine our consciences and say we have a responsibility here beyond informing the public. We should not be giving these pictures this treatment; we should find ways of reporting the bare facts of what is going on without turning ourselves into accomplices to murder. Because that's what it is. "

Read what her experience has been when she has articulated this view. Comparing the US and UK reactions one must agree with her when she concludes,

"I think the British media should follow suit.(the US) But the problem is that America understands we are at war. Britain does not."

Collin May has an excellent analysis of new Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's blathering at the UN here at Eursoc. He makes a number of shrewd points summed up when he states;

" To sum up his little fringe havering, Zapatero made the comment that it takes more determination and heroism to create peace than make war. This was obviously a defense of his policy to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq after his election win. Well, you’ve certainly got to admire the man’s ability to delude himself, and to believe that cowardice, appeasement and hypocritical calls for dialogue are signs of courage. It appears Europe has found Prodi’s true ideological successor. Thanks for the freak show Spain."

I fully endorse this point of view - those Spanish that voted for this craven little appeaser are merely exhibing the Dhimmitude required of them by their new Al Qu'eda masters. A nation of fools. Time to make amends for the tragedy of Andalusia, Jose?

I sympathise with the family of Ken Bigley but find his brother's comments about Tony Blair very unfortunate. It seems to me that Paul Bigley is a man under huge pressure and is being manipulated as a proxy voice by the anti-war lobby to do down Blair. I sincerely hope his brother comes home alive and well - but IF this does not happen - it will not be because of Tony Blair but rather the Jihadist demons that have kidnapped him.

I was pleased to read about the bringing to justice of Hamas warlord Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil in Syria - and then the even better news that the butcher Amjad Farooqi, responsible for killing US journalist Danny Pearl in Pakistan has been killed. This is how we deal with terrorists - we KILL them, one by one, until the Jihadists understand that they can never prevail. It's tough love.

He's top of the US hit list at the moment and his name is Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. (Actually that's not his name, but we'll get to that in a moment) He's the Jihadist thug who delights in decapitating innocent kidapped civilians in Iraq - and is holding Ken Bigley at the moment. The BBC does a profile on him here which is worth a read. However it's a bit superficial and if you want to gain a deeper understanding of the Al Qu'eda connections to this Jordanian born barbarian, read this.

I was amazed yesterday to hear al-Zarqawi - an inhuman butcher - compared DIRECTLY with US Defence Secretary Don Rumsfeld. Apparently, in the eyes of our friends on the left, these men are similar and in fact Rumsfeld has killed more people - deliberately. This is the leftist hysteria that Melanie Phillips and other write about made manifest. The sooner the US despatches Zarqawi to infinity the better- his will be one death that does not diminish mankind.

>> 26 Sep 2004

TOO MANY COOKS.

Listening to Robin Cook - former British Foreign Secretary, and Patron Saint of BBC Radio 4, waffle on this morning about Iraq one is reminded once more of the staggering moral bankruptcy that pervades leftism. Cook preens his fine moral conscience and declares that Blair should admit that it was WRONG for the UK to help the US liberate Iraq from the Saddamites and that the PM should promise NEVER to do anything similar again. What self-serving sanctimonious nonsense!

Cook has only one response when the question is posed; what would YOU have done about Saddam. His answer; allow the "international community" via UN to get tough! Like in Rwanda, or Sudan. A grotesque political hypocrite.

Well, I am back and rested up after my little lunch-time debating session on the BBC Radio Ulster "7 Days."

I enjoyed the discussion and was pretty relaxed throughout the programme - I got a little cross at the Irish oil company magnate who appeared proud of his trading relationship with Saddam's Iraq whilst seeking to impress with a sense of moral superiority but hey, forgive me that!

What I enjoy so much about radio programmes like this - and this is a non right/left point - is that they provide more of the necessary time for the issues to be explored. TV is so quick, so superficial, that it is much harder for the programme makers and guests to actually develop a point. Unless one is working from a script - as I will be later this week (My own, I hasten to add)- it's a self limiting whilst incredibly powerful medium ..and that is the conumdrum at the heart of political debate these days - unless you distil your opinions into snappy one-liners to suit the medium - you will come across very poorly.

My fellow panellists were very pleasant today - Suzanne Breen was her usual expressive and entertaining self - I disagreed with almost everything she said!! I tried to inject a bit of humour on a few occassions but otherwise thought it flowed pretty well. Anyone hear it - any feedback?

Even before I'd managed to scroll down to the bottom of this claptrap, I had a feeling who had written it. The piece had the imprimatur of cowardly Unionism all over it. Of course it could only be Roy Garland, biographer of the repulsive Gusty Spence, and Trimbleite buttkisser.

As David has said in an earlier blog, there seems to be a raft of so-called Unionist-friendly commentators who just haven't grasped the reality that Unionists have moved on since 1998. It is completely disingenuous to talk of splits and fissures in the DUP and elsewhere. Performing the dirty work of nationalist Ireland in creating the illusion of broad Unionist weakness only serves to create the image of treachery in the pro-Union family.

Mr Garland should be under no illusion, Unionism will seek a correct deal or Direct Rule will remain in place. If hacks such as he and Mr Clarke think Unionism will be cowed by empty threats of joint authority, they are very much mistaken. Should devolution fail, HM Government will opt for the solution which keeps Northern Ireland as relatively quiet and stable as it has been for the last two years. Joint authority is definitely not that solution.

>> 25 Sep 2004

THE JOY OF BEING A SOCIAL WORKER.

Only a few weeks ago, SDLP luminary Martin Morgan announced his retirement from front-line politics and his desire to focus on developing his career in the sphere of social work. Now, our Marty is back and this time around he says he would indeed consider standing as a candidate for Fianna Fail if it organised on an all-Ireland basis. Bertie's gain is social works loss, I guess????

I like to read Liam Clarke in the Sunday Times and find his analysis entertaining in it's total failure to understand the majority anti-Agreement unionist position. Today's article is no different and in it we learn that the IRA will be going away very shortly (Really?) and that the DUP needs to engage with the IRA's proxies in Sinn Fein as soon as is possible. Liam excels even his fantastical standards by suggesting that DUP MEP Jim Allister considered a coalition with Sinn Fein at the Euro-election - a case of wishful thinking and pro-Agreement propaganda too far, I think. The probelm for pro-Agreement journo-lickspittles is that they endly rehash the sort of failed thinking that is stuck in 1997 and failed to keep up with the moves in Unionist thinking. The Belfast Agreement has FAILED, the IRA MUST disarm and disband, and the days of pushover Unionism being ascendant are over.

How I love to read Lindy McDowell's column in the Belfast Telegraph. She remains about the only regular commentator there with analytical integrity still intact. As always, her latest article was a straight-spoken, honest appraisal of where Ulster now lies after 76 months of unremitting concessions to Sinn Fein/IRA. Of all the passages in her considered etude of peace process appeasement, the most startling passages came with references to the Finucane case.

McDowell believes an enquiry is necessary: I disagree. However, this is where our divergence of opinion ends. McDowell is firmly of the opinion that the promised investigation is just another sop to a rapacious republican murder machine, desperately trying to revise history to justify its heinous existence.

In the twisted brains of nationalist Ireland, it does not matter whether collusion was a fact or not. All Sinn Fein has to do is to continue brainwashing the human garbage who give the party support at every twist and turn with the 'illusion of collusion.' Ergo, if the enquiry does not yield a conclusion which dovetails with exemplars of nationalist MOPEry, it will be dismissed and ridiculed.

An analogous situation exists with the wasteful Bloody Sunday enquiry. Lord Saville is due to report in the New Year. If nationalists think he is going to publish a report portraying the illegal assembly as entirely blameless in the equation, they are sorely mistaken. Summarily, nationalists chose to break the law and march in an area saturated with Provo hitmen. That historicity, coupled with the general security situation in the Province at the time, will to some extent excuse the collective actions of the Army on the Sunday in question. Once the Saville investigation is completed, nationalist Ireland will turn around, claim it is a whitewash, and go on marching in in a synchronized assembly of laughable pathos every January to ensure the wounds are kept fresh.

I'm certainly not implying that the people who marched in Londonderry in January '72 deserved to be shot, wounded or killed - far from it. I am merely indicating the due process of cause and effect in a scenario littered with dangerous caveats. As for Pat, the 'Human Rights solicitor', the sooner the rest of society are spared the tiresome histrionics of the Finucane clan, the better we'll all feel.

Well,well. It seems that more than 100 protesters have gathered outside Welsh Secretary Peter Hain's house in South Wales this morning. They are barricading the cottage in Resolven near Neath in protest against the Government's ban on hunting. I'm sure the freedom-loving Hain (Hmmph...)will understand that these are the things that happen to politicians when they engage in the removal of other people's liberty.

And as for the "Let's beat up on the fox-hunters because they're all toff's anyway" specious argument employed by the class-war advocates of the left, I think this rather points a different picture...

John O'Shea, a retired factory worker from Merthyr, said he got up at 4am this morning to join other demonstrators who gathered here around 6am. He said: "The media projects an image of a gentleman in a red coat sitting on top of a white horse drinking from his stirrup cup but this is not the case. It is the working-class who are hunting."

The Reuters "news" service has taken exception to CanWest, a Canadian news agency, adding the word "terrorist" to an article distributed by Reuters.

Most commonly, the words "insurgent" or "militant" are employed by the Leftmedia in stories about car or "suicide" bombing attacks. However, in this instance, no such word was used at all.

The original Reuters line stated: "...the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which has been involved in a four-year-old revolt against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank." The National Post changed it to: "...the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a terrorist group that has been involved in a four-year-old campaign of violence against Israel." That is objective news.

David Schlesinger, global managing editor for Reuters, however, cried foul: "Our editorial policy is that we don't use emotive words when labeling someone."

Hmmm. A "terrorist" is someone who uses the modus operandi of "terrorism" -- i.e., the deliberate targeting of civilians to achieve a political or religious goal. That doesn't sound "emotive" to us -- but it does sound as if someone is "Non Compos Mentis."

Like many other people, I was pretty sickened to hear UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan blathering on the BBC about how "We" felt that the war in Iraq was illegal. Here's a great article from the Wall Street Journal that cuts to the chase on another matter of right and wrong, in this case the UN's dealings with Saddam Hussein under the "Oil for bribes" programme it administered.

"It was in service of that U.N. mix of sanctions and humanitarian relief that Mr. Annan after visiting with Saddam in Iraq in 1998 returned to New York to report: "I think I can do business with him. And oh what a lot of business the U.N. did. Mr. Annan's Secretariat collected more than $1.4 billion in commissions on Saddam's oil sales, all to supervise the integrity of Saddam's $65 billion in oil sales and $46 billion in relief purchases."

Just wondering if the next bit of propaganda for al-Tawhid will come from the noble Sheikh himself - probably via a ouija board. Can you blame me after reading this....????? This story is out of control, media coverage is hysterical, and the villains of the piece, Zarqawi's goon squad, are hardly mentioned, except when amateur hour media psycho-analysts debate if the kidnappers have struck up a "rapport" with Mr. Bigley.

>> 24 Sep 2004

Once a Lemon, Now a Cabbage

Remember when some Ulster Unionist mush called Tim Lemon stood against Peter Robinson in East Belfast for the 2001 General Election? Now his good lady wife faces a 'challenge' by Trimble lickspittle, Dermot Nesbitt, in her Strangford constituency. Deary me, some Ulster Unionists are really affected by self-delusion. Earlier on this week we saw a dopey Daphne pledging to unseat Jeffrey Donaldson in Lagan Valley; now we have dizzy Dermot, who, in true Tammy Wynette fashion, always stands by his man (David 'Traitor' Trimble), claiming he has a realistic chance of unseating Iris Robinson.

Accounting for present electoral trends in Ulster, the UUP will be lucky to hold on to just one of their five existing seats, let alone seek to add extra constituency treasures to their tally. If Robinson had a 1,500 majority over a UUP challenger in 2001, you can bet you life that majority will have tripled by next May. Ulster Unionists had a chance to save their party by dumping their leader. Because they refused to do so, the pro-Union people will dispense with the party. It's that straightforward.

I see that Madonna has been banned from that most moderate of countries, Egypt. Her sin? To have visited Israel!! For this unspeakable crime, the "Material Girl" has been judged immaterial and told to stay away from the land of the pharoahs. Isn't it time the US stopped giving huge sums of financial aid to these tatty anti-Semites?

One more example of how depraved Palestinians have become under terrorist godfather Yasser Arafat is exposed in this article by David Frankfurter. Seems that the young Palestinian woman who blew herself to bits the other day, taking two courageous IDF soldiers with her, was a children's TV presenter. Charming.

Check out this letter from some republican dirtbag in Londonderry. I can't quite comprehend how a supposedly mainstream publication has the audacity to publish a submission implicitly supportive of a continuation of mass terrorism and insurrection. This pillock must be some throwback to the days when the German army were extirpating Jews from the Fatherland.

We know that many such sick types exist within the nationalist community. When the mainstream are not voting en masse for Provo frontsmen, they tolerate animals like Laurence O'Kane in their midst. I wonder why I am not surprised this individual did not seek to have his address printed for all the world to see.

For fifteen years Geraldine Finucane, her family, and her high society chums in Sinn Fein/IRA have been calling for an enquiry into the dispatching of her Provo-embracing husband, Pat. Yes, the man who lived off the fat of the land courtesy of defending scumbags, the man whose family and supporters cannot even be truthful about where his connections lay, and the man who was killed - ironically - by a methodological 'comrade-in-arms' of the filth he represented, is to finally have an enquiry into his passing commissioned by the UK government and, hence, funded by my hard-earned taxes.

Is old Geraldine happy? Is she 'chuff'! She has said that, because HM Government will be following the normal rules and practices governing investigations into matters potentially exposing the flank of national security interests, she will not participate in 'a fiasco and a circus'. So, in the round, I will have to work to pay taxes towards an investigation into the death of a man I despised, and tolerate the breathtaking ingratitude of his self-indulgent, miserable brood to boot. Meanwhile, I trust Mrs Finucane will respond in kind by offering some of the silver earned by her ex to the victims of the crimes perpetrated by creatures her late beloved championed. I won't hold my breath!!

It's always there with it's finger on the pulse, full of exciting young thrusting whippersnapper columnists like Barry White (Sadly, NOT the walrus of love) Eric Waugh (Approaching his 100th Birthday?) Brian Walker (Snnnooozzze)...and now ..... Jim Dougal. (Who he - oh yes, man in suit formerly our man in Brussels)

Yes - that's how exciting Northern Ireland's evening newspaper is these days. Then there is the now de-spectacled club cabaret expert Steven King (Master of UUP horror stories) and Eamon "Power to the People" McCann (Is he still in the Tooting Popular Front? Who knows and who cares.).

The only chinks of light in the darkness of this daily rag come from Gail Walker on a good day, Malachi O'Doherty (Individualistic) and best of all for me.. Lindy McDowell. For some reason, being anti-Belfast Agreement and therefore representative of the majority of unionists, puts one beyond the pale as far as our soaraway Telegraph is concerned.

Auntie Beeb's Question Time programme made a return to our screens just before the start of the annual party conference season. I rarely watch this drivel, as it is yet another forum for lunatic Lefties to air their incalculable grievances. Yesterday was different - mainly because Richard Dreyfuss was one of the guests. Any star of such excellent films as Jaws, Close Encounters and Whose Life Is It Anyway? is OK by me, whatever his politics might be.

David Dimbleby constantly informs us the Question Time audience is a 'representative sample of the British public'. Mmm, please forgive me if I don't jump up and down, nodding in wholehearted agreement with this statement. You see, according to the 2001 Census, people classing themselves as 'White British' made up approximately 92% of the UK population. Why was it then, that when the camera panned around the audience in Borehamwood last night, the demographic make-up looked more like a United Nations General Assembly photoshoot?If there were any members from this 92%, one had to look very hard to see them.

Moreover, the only true right-of-centre voice in the whole studio was that provided by Shadow Cabinet minister, Tim Collins. Looking at the rest of the guests - we had Mr Dreyfuss (a well-known supporter of the American Democrats); Simon Hughes and Peter Hain, who are both so Left-wing they've dropped off the end; and Julia Hartley-Brewer, whose opinions appeared to be whatever the majority consensus was in the audience on a particular topic.

Ah, the audience, ladies and gentlemen. They were soooo 'representative' of British demography and public opinion, weren't they? We had a room stuffed full of jihadist apologists, anti-American cretins, Loony Lefties, and people of just about every colour in the rainbow. The views articulated by this motley collection of fools may have convinced the bigwigs at the BBC that they are in tune with the pulse of modern Britain, but it shows the rest of us that this sham of a broadcasting corporation has little interest in taking on board the majority view of the indigenous population. If Mr Dimbleby had the honesty to tell us that Question Time has audiences representative of ethnic minorities; Lefties; ultra-Lefties; and fans of The Guardian, I would be less inclined to criticise.

>> 23 Sep 2004

"Let's say you tried to have an election and you could have it in three quarters or four fifths of the country but some places you couldn't because the violence was too great. Well, so be it, nothing is perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet."

Common sense with which anyone with even half a brain must agree. Sadly thay rules out much of the media elite!

While 15 years is not as scandalous as the sentence given to Doyle, it is still far too little. My view is that murder should have an automatic tarriff of 30 years minimum and that the trial judge should have to justify any reduction on the basis of exceptional circumstances, and that this should be subject to appeal by the Attorney General. This is what should be the proposed legislation, not further reductions!

The story is taken from BBC News Online:

Two people have been sentenced for beating a man to death. Harry Speers, 45, from Carntall Road, Newtownabbey, was told at Belfast Crown Court on Friday that he must serve at least 15 years for the murder of Trevor Lowry. Mr Lowry, 49, a father of two, from Glengormley, died on 31 March 2001, two days after being lured into an alleyway at Harmin Drive in the village where he was attacked and brutally beaten.

At the time, the authorities said it was believed Mr Lowry, a Protestant, was targeted in the mistaken belief that he was a Catholic. Also in court was Ron Craig, 20, Richmond Avenue, Glengormley, who was a schoolboy at the time of the attack. He was told that he will have to serve at least 11 years for his role.

Sentencing the two men, Mr Justice Girvan said while there was only a "hint of sectarianism in the background of the case", he was satisfied that Mr Lowry was "targeted as a victim". He added the inference was that he was "either lured down a darkened alleyway to be attacked, or was intimidated into going into the laneway - then set upon and kicked in the most dreadful circumstances".

Mr Justice Girvan said that during the unprovoked attack, in which Mr Lowry had little or no chance to defend himself, it appeared his attackers "didn't care whether he lived or died - they didn't care what happened to him". The judge also reiterated his finding that Craig had lied during evidence about any involvement in the attack and that he had tried to stop it. Mr Justice Girvan said he was satisfied that Craig had "actively participated in the attack".

Turning to Speers the judge said he had shown no remorse and had failed to give any evidence to explain his role. Speers, he said, had either participated in the actual kicking or actively encouraged the assault. "As the senior person present, and obviously a man of some influence in the community, he had it well within his powers to stop this terrible incident. In terms of moral turpitude, he carries a graver responsibility than Craig who was obviously an irresponsible young man of limited intelligence," Mr Justice Girvan said.

This column will not just highlight ludicrously lenient sentences, but will also give credit where it's due. It would be impossible this week to ignore the case of the two perverts who abused children at a Barnardo's home outside Belfast for many years in the 1970's and 1980's. Congratulations to the judge - the victims were pleasantly surprised by the sentences, and so was I.

The story (which I have shortened slightly) is from the News Letter:

Two evil former Dr Barnardo's child carers who subjected eight children to a campaign of sexual and physical abuse were sent to jail yesterday for a total of 29 years. As Belfast Crown Court Judge Mr Justice Weir outlined the details of their "revolting activities", the first woman to be convicted of instutionalised sex abuse in Northern Ireland, 69-year-old Sarah Jayne Margaret Hewitt, sat in the dock shaking her head and even giving a wry smile as she was led to the cells to begin her 11-year jail term. Beside her, co-accused 46-year-old Robert George Anderson showed little or no emotion as the judge told him he would serve 18 years for raping and abusing two girls, indecently assaulting another and abusing a young boy who was in his care.

At the end of their trial in June, Hewitt, formerly from Coast Road in Drain's Bay near Larne, was unanimously convicted of 53 charges of indecent assault, gross indecency and common assault. Anderson, formerly from Hillhead Road, Ballycarry, Co Antrim, was unanimously convicted of 17 similar charges, including two counts of rape.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Weir said that both the perverts still maintained they were innocent of the rape and abuse they forced their former wards to suffer. He said that, for all the victims but one, they did not have a "secure and loving family" to protect them from Hewitt and Anderson's depredations. "In due course, they all had the misfortune to end up in the care of Barnardo's at Macedon Children's Home, at a time when you two were employed in it.

I say 'in care' but that expression has a hollow ring in the context of what happened to them there." The judge said that Hewitt was often the most senior carer there at nights and at weekends, with the perverted pair having the home "virtually to yourselves and, therefore, could do what you liked without fear of being surprised"

Listening to BBC Radio Ulster this morning, I was disgusted to hear the vicious anti-American bashing of some Irish ex-UN guy, whose name I missed, using the pretext of how the Irish Government might now become involved to see if it can help bring about the release of Kenneth Bigley. Mr.Bigley's liverpudlian mother is...Irish by birth. Naturally, the local BBC bring up an Irish angle to a Baghdad situation.

It seems the Ireland had friendly relations with the Saddam dictatorship (What?) and may be able to use it's decades of acquired skills in negotiating with and understanding terrorists in this case.

It's time to nail a few of the outrageous slurs flying around in our hysterical media.

First, those who have kidnapped Bigley are not interested in "negotiation." They are interested in death. If Kenneth Bigley is murdered, it will be entirely the responsibility of those who kidnapped and kill him. To blame Bush or Blair, as many hysterical leftists are now doing, is nothing short of pitiful.

Second, the kidnappers seek to put pressure on the US/UK. They know that this does not work in the US - which is why they decapitated the two US men earlier this week. (With little reaction from the UK media) The kidnappers suspect that the UK may be more vulnerable to this blatant form of blackmail and political manipulation - and I think they may be right.

Anyone watching the absolutely disgraceful BBC Question Time last evening will have seen the success of the Jihadists strategy. An audience full of appeasers with no sense of morality all baying for "negotiation" - even suggesting that we give the terrorists what they want. I have EVEN heard it said, by the same halfwit on Radio Ulster this morning,that the kidnappers have actually been "forced" into doing what they do by the US/UK vile imperialist oppressors.

The truth is that the UK media ise doing all it can to assist the terrorists, and I think it a vague possible that Mr. Bigley MIGHT even be released so that the terrorists can claim the "high moral ground" and exert more pressure brought on Blair to separate from the US.

We start this week with a reminder of what murder is worth in Northern Ireland today - 10 years. The murder of Angela Snoddy by Conor Doyle was brutal - Doyle stabbed his ex-partner 70 times, so the sentence equates to one year for every seven stabs. The Attorney General has now appealed the sentence as being unduly lenient and the verdict of the Appeal Court will be awaited with interest, not least by this column. The story has added topicality in the week when the Lord Chief Justice of England has proposed further reductions in sentences for murderers who have the decency to plead guilty - they might get off with as little as seven years! You have to ask: have we become a society which no longer wishes to punish its criminals?

The story is taken from the Irish News:

Appeal Court judges were urged yesterday to increase the jail sentence of a man who admitted murdering his ex-girlfriend in a frenzied knife attack.

Conor Doyle (23), from Limestone Road in north Belfast, was told he must serve at least 10 years of a life sentence for murdering Angela Snoddy in her Newtownabbey home in October 2002. The mother-of-two was stabbed 70 times and her throat was cut, the day after Doyle was served with court papers ordering him not to molest her. The Attorney General referred the case to the Court of Appeal because he believed the sentence was unduly lenient.

Bernard McCloskey QC, for the Attorney General, said no aspect of Doyle’s culpability could be overlooked or diminished in measuring his guilt for such an appalling murder. He said the trial judge had erred in his application of the sentencing guidelines. “He should have fastened onto a minimum term of 15 to 16 years because the mitigating factors did not outweigh the aggravating factors,” he said.

Frank O’Donoghue QC, for Doyle, said the facts of the case were such that it permitted the judge to come to the conclusion that the starting point was something less than 16 years. “His culpability was significantly reduced because he suffered from mental instability, which lowered his degree of responsibility,” Mr O’Donoghue said. In court were Ms Snoddy’s mother and the mothers of two other murder victims who have banded together to demand tougher sentences for men who kill their estranged wives or former girlfriends.

The three appeal judges reserved their decision. The Lord Chief Justice, Sir Brian Kerr, sitting with Lords Justices Nicholson and Campbell, said: “This is an extremely important case and one in which we would like to reflect on the submissions and authorities put before us.”

Melanie Phillips diary is always worth a read - this is an excerot from today's entry...

"The madness continues to escalate. The British ambassador to Italy, Sir Ivor Roberts, has been outed for having said: ‘If anyone is ready to celebrate the re-election of Bush it is al-Qaeda’. It rates alongside the infamous remark by the French ambassador to Britain that Israel was a ‘shitty little country’ as a revelation, not so much of one diplomat’s maladroit absence of diplomacy but the corrupted mindset of a country’s foreign policy establishment. Indeed, as the Times reported, the ambassador revealed his true agenda by adding that the Jews were behind it all. The Corriere della Serra 'also quoted the ambassador saying, at the conference near Siena, that the Bush Administration was subject to “conditioning” and “pressure” from Israel and “the Jewish lobby”.

Well, as predicted here a few days ago, our rotten cowardly Government has yielded to republican pressure and bowed to having an inquiry into the murder of Belfast solicitor, human rights "champion" and possible saint, Pat Finucane. The establishment of a hierarchy of victimhood is well under way - with republicans at the top of it, and the victims of IRA butchery at the bottom.

Naturally, this inquiry will be used to rubbish the reputation of the gallant RUC, the British Army, the British Government and everyone but gallant republicans and their fearless seekers of truth and justice.

I was pleased toread reports of Iraqi PM Ayad Allawi thanking the US for its' tremendous support in freeing Iraq from the Saddamites.

"Thank you, America.We Iraqis know that Americans have made and continue to make enormous sacrifices to liberate Iraq, to assure Iraq's freedom," the prime minister said. "I have come here to thank you and to promise you that your sacrifices are not in vain."

He added that the "overwhelming majority" of Iraqis are grateful to be rid of Saddam Hussein and to have a chance to build a better future. The others represent a "tiny minority, who despite the very ideas of liberty, of peace and of tolerance will kill anyone, destroy anything to prevent Iraq and its people from achieving its goal."

It's humbling to hear this and must be some consolation for those brave American families who have lost loved ones securing freedom for Iraqis.